Maturity
by Segmented Aura
Summary: .hack/G.U. A fresh encounter with an old flame knocks Kuhn off his feet, and the person he turns to doesn't exactly pick him back up again. Kuhn x Pi, R&R! Chapter 2 is UP! :D
1. Chapter 1

Um, so even though I probably shouldn't be doing a new story since I still have three others I need to work on, here it is!! :D I've really been itching to get this one up and going, so enjoy, everyone!!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own .hack or anything related.

* * *

An arcade, Tomonari thought to himself, was not nearly as fun and laid-back a place to work as all his friends believed. True, you pretty much had freedom to play whatever games you wanted (provided you weren't on the clock), but they all got pretty old after a while. Except for the classics, of course. Tomonari's personal favourite was Pac-Man. But Pac-Man notwithstanding, the rest got real repetitive, real fast.

And yes, most days consisted of sitting behind the counter doing what you pleased – except for the typical stream of people either needing change or turning in tickets for prizes – but some sort of fight usually broke out at least once a week, over ridiculous things like someone "stealing" a machine from another, or whose tickets were whose. This might have been mildly entertaining to watch, only for whatever reason Tomonari was regularly the one his boss sent over to break it up. He'd gone home with a black eye or a bleeding lip more than once.

Still, he liked his job fairly well. He did get to play the new games that were shipped in before anyone else, which were interesting for at least a few days, his coworkers were all very friendly, and they had some of the most colorful customers.

At the moment, though, the arcade was quite empty – which made sense, as it was noon on a weekday. Everyone was either at work or school. Only he and one other employee, who was currently fixing a machine in the far corner, were present. Tomonari say behind the front counter, elbows propped on the surface and hands supporting his chin, and wondered idly why their employer even kept open at a time like this. Occasionally, a couple of college students or a parent and child would enter in the middle of the day, but that hardly seemed worth it.

_Ah, well…easy money, anyways._ Tomonari shook his head a bit to clear the oncoming drowsiness – he'd been out a bit too late at a party the night before – then turned towards the large, wall-length windows that faced outside.

And saw _her_.

His hands slipped, and he nearly slammed his chin into the countertop. He stared. There was no mistaking it; her hair was maybe a little longer, her face and figure more mature, but it was _her_. Standing right outside of his work.

For several moments, Tomonari simply stared and stared, taking in every detail of her appearance. Her face was turned from him, seeming to be looking down the street for someone, but he could see her profile perfectly. Her eyes were bright, lips full (was she wearing _makeup?_), and her hair _was_ longer; it was almost to her shoulders, though it was styled the same as ever. This made him smile.

She was wearing an olive-green dress with frills at the ends of the long sleeves; it complimented her very nicely, falling just about her knees, and paired with brown loafers to finish off the ensemble. She carried a matching purse, which she had now started waving in the air, apparently flagging down whoever she'd been looking for a moment ago.

He could still hardly believe his eyes; five – no, closer to six years. Had it really been that long? Surely he should go and say hello…that would be alright, wouldn't it, after all, it _had_ been that long…it would be fine, right?

Already excited, Tomonari leapt to his feet, fully intent on hurrying outside and surprising her from behind – surely she'd be happy to see him – but then came a man, and it must have been the one she was searching for, because he swept her up into his arms and kissed her. And she very clearly returned it.

Tomonari froze, eyes widening, heart pounding; he gripped the counter very hard. He couldn't tear his gaze away. They broke apart after not too long, but still remained close, although not touching. The man's, the _stranger's_, lips were moving in words Tomonari couldn't hear, and she smiled, smiled so happily, and her eyes were happy, and her lips moved in reply. _So_ unlike her…

As she spoke, she pointed down the street in the opposite direction her – boyfriend? Fiancé? _Husband?_ – had come from, and, laughing at something he'd said, set off with him hand-in-hand.

Tomonari couldn't move, could hardly think. Mai had _never_ looked that happy to be with him. Certainly, she hadn't been _un_happy; she'd been happy, yes, but never so whole-heartedly…and he'd never seen her laugh so genuinely, so carefree, let alone be the one to cause it.

What had happened? _What had happened?_ Finally, he let go of his death-hold on the counter, and rushed around to gather his things, change out of his workshirt. He had to leave. He had to leave right now.

Finished with his preparations, he went and begged his coworker to cover for him, who must have noticed something was wrong because he agreed quite readily. Tomonari was out the door in a matter of seconds.

He was jittery the whole ride home, hands clenching and unclenching on the steering wheel, and he fumbled with his keys for at least a minute before he managed to get inside his apartment, where after locking the door behind him he dropped everything and headed for his bedroom.

He needed to take his mind off of this, off of – off of _everything_, needed someone, a distraction – it just happened to be a someone he was currently unable to meet in real life.

Kuhn warped into Breg Epona less than five minutes later, and immediately sent out a shortmail invite to join his party. He received a busy message back almost instantaneously, but not to be deterred, he sent two, three, four, five more invites, the responses becoming increasingly hostile, until at last ten mails later Pi warped into town beside him looking very ill-tempered indeed.

"What do you want, Kuhn?! I was in the middle of a very important meeting!" Pi all but growled, practically spitting fire; despite the imminent danger, Kuhn had never been more pleased, more relieved, to see her.

However, that didn't make coming up with a good excuse any easier. He put on a sheepish face. "Ummm, well, ya see…"

"_**Kuhn?!**_" She looked ready to kill; Kuhn laughed nervously, still with the same sheepish expression.

"U-uhh, don't be mad! I just wanted to go adventuring, and since I've been, uhh, longing for your charming company…"

Kuhn waited for the explosion, for her to find a way to PK him in a root town and then leave without another word, but it never came; instead she simply stared at him.

When it became clear she wasn't going to say anything anytime soon, Kuhn bravely ventured a, "Ummm…Pi…?"

"Alright, let's go." The sudden, business-like tone and the words that came with it surprised him, and it was his turn to stare. "What area did you have in mind?"

"Well, I…" Kuhn began, then trailed off, because he hadn't had any area in mind and was still too shocked at the lack of a punishment to think of one; Pi heaved an impatient sigh.

"Fine, I'll pick one. _Honestly_…" And faster than he'd thought possible, the Tribal Grappler had invited him into her party – he accepted, even though he'd been the one to invite her in the first place – selected a decently high-level area, and they were off.

She'd chosen a cave-dungeon, which Kuhn supposed was alright, though he preferred the field areas himself. As soon as they'd arrived, Pi took off at a brisk pace, and the Steam Gunner had to hurry to catch up with her.

For the first floor or so, they fought in silence, only occasionally interacting when needed, which Kuhn didn't necessarily mind at the moment – that is, until his thoughts started to wander off down a certain path with no real diversions offered. So he began to talk – well, ramble, really, as Pi wasn't saying much – about all sorts of irrelevant things; it wasn't until they'd reached the Beast Statue and Kuhn started talking about the mechanics of Pac-Man that she stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. He shut up and did the same, gazing at her curiously.

"What's up, Pi?"

"Tell me what the problem is."

Kuhn started a bit at this abrupt demand, and was about to cheerfully deny any problem, but the no-nonsense voice and the look in her eye made him change his mind. He sighed, and his rueful smile matched his tone.

"Guess it's no use trying to hide anything from you, huh, Pi?"

She didn't answer, only looking at him expectantly, and after a pause Kuhn finally confessed. "Okay, okay…the truth is, I…I saw her."

He didn't need to explain, and he didn't wait for this to sink in; the Steam Gunner rushed on without meeting her gaze. "She has a boyfriend, and…she looked so happy." He swallowed before continuing, still unused to admitting to things like this, even to her. "I couldn't help thinking that I wished I had ever made her that happy…heh, but it's pretty stupid, huh…after all this time…"

Another pause; he peeked up at Pi, but still she waited, as if she knew he had more to say.

Kuhn had confided in Pi about his past a long time ago; she was the only one. Of course his closest real-life friends were aware, had been there though much of it, but he never talked to them about it. Haseo knew his only serious girlfriend had dumped him in high school, but Pi knew all the details, all his feelings on the matter (and, he surmised rather bitterly, Yata had probably listened in). She proved to be an excellent confidante.

Eventually, Kuhn went on. "She was always so mature for her age…it was one of the things I liked best about her. …but I'm sure I'm still too childish for her…" He gave a sad sort of chuckle, still not meeting her eyes, and said no more.

Pi was quiet for a long moment, observing Kuhn over her glasses, arms crossed across her chest, before she spoke, inflectionless. "I'm not going to feel sorry for you. You _are_ acting like a child."

Kuhn was quiet even longer, rather stung; finally he said, with a weak attempt at humour in his voice, "Ouch, Pi. You don't pull any punches, do you?"

"You said it yourself, it's stupid after all this time," she replied evenly; now Kuhn felt a distinct pang in his chest. He looked back to her at last.

His humour was even weaker. "Well, at least I'll know who to come to next time I need cheering up."

"Stop it with the comments," Pi snapped, suddenly irritable. "You're an adult, and I'm telling it like it is. _Someone_ has to."

"Maybe I wasn't looking for the reality," Kuhn snapped back, now on edge himself. "_Maybe_ I was looking for some sympathy."

"Really? _Really_, Kuhn? Did you honestly think she wouldn't date after she dumped you? Did you think she'd be wandering around alone for the rest of her life?"

"No, of _course_ I -!!" he began heatedly, but then cut off at this cold logic. Whenever he thought about Mai, it was usually remembering the two of them in the old days, but when he pictured her after the breakup…he had to admit her saw her alone - with friends, yes, going to college, getting a job, but never with a new love interest.

The silence as he pondered this startling revelation was more than enough of an answer for Pi, who drew his attention again by scoffing as she turned her back on him, then made her way to the nearby portal.

She spoke coldly. "You really do need to grow up."

And with that, she warped out.

* * *

So? How was it?? Good? Bad? Okay? Let me know, praise constructive criticism, anything!! Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll see you in the next chapter!! Buh-bye!! :D  
Lovelove, Amy

Man, my notes were really short this time. o.O


	2. Chapter 2

Soooo…not really much of an excuse for this practically year-long absence on this story, except that I wanted to have multiple chapters done before I posted precisely so something like this DIDN'T happen…and that I was maybe hoping for a few more reviews. Simply because I actually really like this one. And then a bunch of time passed where it just got pushed to the wayside…and then I thought HEY! I don't care, I wanna put this thing up cuz I like it! Sooo…here's chapter 2, please enjoy. :)

**Disclaimer: **Obviously. Don't own.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pi hadn't contacted Kuhn in a week – that is, since she had warped out on him – but to be fair, Kuhn hadn't tried to get in contact with Pi.

Tomonari wasn't quite sure how he felt about this. Sometimes he supposed he should go and apologize to her, because she was very clearly angry with him – but then he thought, _What do _I_ have to apologize for?_ After all, he was still sore about a lot of the things she'd said.

Pi's bluntness could be one of her best and worst qualities, but this time had just been unnecessarily harsh – not to mention untrue. Unless, of course, he worried – as was most often the case with Pi – it _was_ true…

Mostly, though, he was realizing just how much of his time in The World had really been spent with the Tribal Grappler. He had initially been sitting around in Canard's HOME, bored – he'd considered, but hadn't dared go to Raven's HOME, even empty as it was now – and wondering when he'd had so little to do before it hit him: normally he would be with Pi at this time.

Instead, he'd been spending an increasing amount of time helping out at Canard, and next to no time at all with his usual female companions. Silabus and Gaspard speculated openly about the mysterious disappearance of his illness, and even Haseo had raised an eyebrow at Kuhn's brushing off two of his regular girls.

Tomonari had been wondering about it himself, but somehow he hadn't been in the mood this past week; besides, it felt good to be back at his old guild with his fellow guildmates, and back to teaching new players the ropes. Maybe that was part of it.

It had also crossed his mind more than once that, much as he loved them, it just wasn't as much fun chasing after the ladies without dodging the threat of Pi. He hadn't even been to real-life party in the past seven days, despite the physical impossibility of her showing up there to stop him. Pretty much he'd just been bouncing between work, sleep, and the game. And he was becoming disturbingly well-adjusted to the cycle.

Regardless of his feelings on the matter, Tomonari knew he had to rectify this situation, and soon. He really didn't want to turn into a geek.

Presently, though, Kuhn was waiting at Mac Anu's Chaos Gate for Silabus, who was finishing up a few errands for Canard before meeting him.

Silabus had noticed several days ago that something was off with Kuhn, which was no surprise; the Blade Brandier tended to be rather observant about such things. However, unlike a certain pink-haired, bespectacled player, he was not in the least pushy, only offering Kuhn someone to talk to if he needed.

And the Steam Gunner was finally taking him up on it. He had no clue whatsoever what to do about Pi, so consulting someone else was obviously in order, and Silabus seemed to be the best choice. Kuhn knew he would be understanding if nothing else.

It was only mildly embarrassing to be asking someone five years younger than him, and apparently oblivious to his own female admirers, for advice on a girl (for lack of a better name).

Ten minutes or so passed of Kuhn walking in increasingly widening circles around the Chaos Gate, and pondering just when he'd become such a loser that he had nothing better to do while he waited (though he knew some of it had to do with a large portion of the opposite sex snubbing him for his recently indifferent behaviour). Finally Silabus came running into the dome, an apologetic look on his face as he approached. "Sorry I'm so late! Gaspard was having some problems at the shop, so I took a little longer than planned…"

"Don't worry about it." Kuhn waved away his apologies with a smile, then gestured back to the Chaos Gate. "Shall we?"

Silabus nodded, smiling brightly in return; Kuhn added him to his party and away they went.

When they arrived – in a field area, of course – there was a brief pause before Kuhn spoke up, sound rather off. "Right…so! Why don't we clear this and head to the Beast Temple first, and then, uh…" This was making him more nervous than he'd expected, and when he was nervous about something he stalled, but Silabus played along.

"Okay!" the Blade Brandier agreed, no questions asked, no hint of impatience. "Let's go this way, the map says there's a shrine right up ahead."

Kuhn had chosen so low-level an area, in the beginners' server no less, precisely so they could talk without being bothered by some strong monster, and consequently they were breezing through the battles. They chatted amiably as they went, quite often about Canard, and the Steam Gunner was more sure than ever that he'd chosen the right person to discuss things with. Silabus was in no way pressuring him – not that he would ever expect him to – and it made him breathe a bit easier.

It wasn't long until they acquired the third Symbol Fragment, but Kuhn insisted they first defeat the remaining parties before entering the Temple, and Silabus complied; even so, it was only another ten minutes before the pair were standing in front of the Beast Statue. Only now did the Blade Brandier turn to him.

"You wanted to talk?" He was curious, a little concerned, but seemed perfectly content to wait for Kuhn's reply – which was good, because Kuhn was taking a little while to come up with one.

"Yeah…yeah, I did. Actually, I kind of wanted your help with something." Kuhn shifted from foot to foot, nervous. "Or…maybe more like your advice, I guess?"

"Well, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do, but I'll certainly try my best! Go on." The brunet smiled encouragingly at him, and Kuhn felt himself relax, just a little. He began slowly.

"Okay, well…it has to do with Pi. She and I had an argument, and now…now she won't talk to me." Damn it, this was so awkward, and he'd barely even told him anything yet…why was this so awkward? The answer was right there, of course: the only one he ever talked to about anything even remotely related to this type of thing was Pi. And the person in front of him was, well…obviously not Pi.

Silabus, however, merely nodded, apparently unaware of Kuhn's discomfort but intent nonetheless. "Okay…what was the argument about?"

"Um, actually, it wasn't really much of an argument. I mean, she got mad at me, and I got mad at her, and we did yell, but…then she just kind of left, but I think she's still angry. I don't really even know why, but I -…" He sighed in frustration, shaking his head; Silabus cocked his own and spoke, sounding as confused as he looked.

"I'm not quite sure I understand."

Kuhn sighed again. "Sorry, this is just so hard to explain without really – explaining everything."

Upon hearing this Silabus seemed to pause, as if unsure he should really say what was on his mind. After a moment, though, he ventured forth hesitantly but earnestly with, "Well…I don't want you to feel like I'm making you if it's too personal, but you're welcome to talk to me about anything."

Kuhn considered this possibility seriously, really looking at Silabus in all his undivided attention, his sincere care and desire to help a friend, how close the two were…and the decision wasn't too hard. The Steam Gunner told him everything.

Silabus listened quietly throughout, every bit as serious as Kuhn, and when he was finished the Blade Brandier spoke up immediately. "I think you need to be the one to talk to her first – send her an email to start, if that makes you more comfortable."

Kuhn stared at him, disbelief etched in his features. He hadn't even processed the recommendation yet. "That's – that's it? That's all you have to say, not anything about – about the rest of it?" Everyone _always_ had something to say about it: "_You should get over it_"…"_it was years ago_"…or more recently, "_grow up_." But Silabus only smiled.

"What else would I say? I couldn't be mad at you for how you feel."

Kuhn didn't say anything for several moments, somewhat dumbfounded – until he realized he shouldn't be surprised at such kindness because it was _Silabus_, after all, and then he smiled in return, appreciating him more than ever. The smile faded, though, as he considered his friend's advice, eyebrows furrowing a bit. "So just…just _talk_ to her? Are you sure? Because with the way she's been acting, I don't really think she wants to talk."

Silabus just shrugged. "From what I can see, it's the only way. After all, you can't resolve a conflict by avoiding each other, can you? I think you're right that she wouldn't come to you, but…" His expression brightened. "I'm sure she'll talk if you ask."

As unappealing a concept it was, Kuhn knew that this was sound advice, and so nodded his head slowly in agreement.

"Silabus, you're a genius. How did _you_ get to be so mature?"

At this Silabus laughed aloud. "I'm a college student who spends most of his time in an online game. Does that sound very mature to you?"

Soon after collecting their cheap treasure, Silabus and Kuhn returned to town, Kuhn in considerably spirits. Then the Steam Gunner accompanied the Blade Brandier back to Shop Acorn, where he donated all the low-level items they had collected on their "adventure." Next the pair spent the following hour or so with two newbies each on an educational expedition to a dungeon and showed them how it was done. This only ended when Silabus had to log off for an afternoon class.

Not too much later Tomonari logged out himself, upon which he found one new message from none other than Silabus:

_I had a great time today. I'm so happy we had a chance to talk! We should do it more often. __ Good luck with Pi! :D_

Tomonari smiled and typed up a decently lengthy reply. The Blade Brandier really was an amazing friend.

And then it was time. Tomonari knew if he had to do it, he had to do it _now_. He took a deep breath, then opened a new email window, addressed it to Pi, and began typing. As soon as he finished, he quickly hit send before he had the opportunity to talk himself out of it. Then he leaned back in his chair, removed his M2D, and waited.

She _had_ to respond; after all, she'd been online right before he'd logged off, even if her status had claimed her as 'busy.'

In the meantime, he ignored a few messages from a few girls, but he didn't have to wait long: there, the one with no subject line. Tomonari nearly fell over in his rush to straighten up, but caught himself and clicked on the email.

_Fine, let's talk. At the moment I'm caught up in something, but we can meet tomorrow at Raven's HOME. 2PM sharp. Don't be late._

Tomorrow. At last, they could straighten things out tomorrow. Tomonari felt himself grinning at the prospect.

It wasn't until much later, after his evening shift at the arcade and when he was finally climbing into bed, that it hit him with a jolt: he hadn't thought about Mai all week.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So how did I do on Silabus? That's another thing I was really nervous about that made me hesitant, I wasn't really sure if I wrote him well…I think I'm pretty good with Pi and Kuhn, but…let me know, okay? :D


End file.
